Unraveling mystery of the past

The discovery of the ‘Mohenjodaro’ and ‘Harappa’ sites can be clubbed as landmark archeological finds, which unveils yet another fascinating dimension of India’s rich cultural heritage. He credit for unraveling such mysteries of the past goes to ‘archaeologists’. These professionals study ancient remains tht have been found, from dwelling sites, manmade tools, artifacts, treasure, and cloths to human bones. Using these they interrupt and reconstruct the history and culture of ancient civilizations across the world. Their main tool is current and ‘updates research’. If like them, the thought of digging uo the past fascinating you may well be cut out for this sphere!

Qualities

Since archeologists come face to face with items that are centuries old, with items that are centuries old, unique, original, rare and most importantly irreplaceable, they need to be extremely careful and responsible as individuals. Being systematic, meticulous, methodological, organized curious about the past, disciplined, patient, committed to conversation, generally aware and sensitive to social issues, are other essentials needed here. Additionally, having an interest in reading, good researching aptitude, ability to use varied computer and software application and having a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of techniques like field testing, excavation , data collection-identification-interpretation and analysis are skill that later become indispensable for those in the sphere.

Qualifications and training

Archaeology aspirant must try making an early beginning in achieving their goal by training early. While in school or college, they should take special interest in subjects like history, geography and biology and take time out to visit archeological sites in their city. Qualifications do matter in this field. So it is necessary to opt for a Bachelors Degree or Diploma in Archeology and preferably follow it up with a Master’s Degree or Diploma and Ph. D in the subject. This provides one greater career prospects in teaching research and culture resource management firms. The scope for specialization in Archeology is great. It varies from specializing in different historical period; the study of human and animal’s bone, stone, artifacts, buildings and historical documents to specializing in different methods of working in laboratories, museums or universities.

Job profile and career prospects

It is carrying out actual scientific excavations calls for immense mental and physical abilities. Often these are done in remote places like fields, caves, underwater or even in seas and oceans, in rural and urban areas, where there is a probability of ancient sites being discovered. The first step archeologists working in a team take in these cases is to plan their approach and techniques in detail. Initial investigations like ‘field walking’, ‘aerial photography,’ and ‘laboratory testing’ are then carried out to assess whether the excavations will be useful or not. Career prospects for archeologists are also immense today. They vary from teaching in colleges, conducting research to being employed by private collectors, museums and universities to study and maintain collections. Promising self-employment opportunities also exist in this sphere and archaeologies can even double up as specialists’ tour guides or even as contract archeological sites for developers and make environmental impact assessments independently.

Pros and cons

It is one of the most interesting and desirable subjects for those fond of history that combines dimensions of both arts and science. In fact, for many a passionate treasure hunter, it I is the perfect field to join. Among it’s pros is the perfect that it is not only a theoretical sphere but a practical one as well. One does not have to simply study here, but simultaneously there is a always something concrete to work on as well! Yet, like any other field this one too has its drawbacks. It is a slightly saturated sphere, with respect to that fact that the demand for archeologists is less compared to the number of qualifies archeologists. In addition, sometimes low salaries, exacting and varying work hours and initial difficulties in getting established, can be titled as its cons.